Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain
Summary: A quiet Christmas week spent fighting off a cold, keeping warm, cooking simple meals, doing small jobs around the apartment, and ending the year with football, website work and an early night on New Year’s Eve.
Monday, 25th December
I didn’t wake early like I did as a child on Christmas Day. As an adult living alone, there isn’t much point rushing out of bed. I had been invited to a friend’s home for Christmas dinner before my Brazil trip, but it was never mentioned again, so I assume she forgot after getting another invitation.
I woke around 10:00 feeling lousy, full of cold. I made a pot of tea and climbed under a blanket to watch films. I had planned to go to Rocco’s at some point, but I didn’t want to pass my cold on to anyone, so I stayed home.
At midday, I put a large gammon joint in the oven. I intended to cook a full roast dinner, but I didn’t feel up to it and ended up having roast gammon sandwiches for Christmas dinner. I soaked a pack of white beans overnight to make stew or soup later in the week.
I spent the rest of the day drifting in and out of sleep under a blanket, watching TV until I went to bed at 22:00.
Tuesday, 26th December
I felt slightly better when I woke around 09:00. I had coffee, turned on the TV and stayed under a blanket. By midday, the Ilvico tablets were helping a bit. I showered and put on clean clothes.
To kill time, I stripped my bed and put the linen in the washing machine. That wore me out again, so I napped on the sofa. In the evening, I had a gammon sandwich and a hot Bovril. I remade my bed and went to sleep around 21:00.
Wednesday, 27th December
Still feeling rough, I asked Liz to take me to Tecnyshop to pick up my new electric heater. I set it up in the bedroom and was delighted with how much heat it produced. It should keep the chill off without heating the whole apartment.
Not wanting gammon sandwiches again, I made a healthy stew using the soaked white beans, vegetable stock and 500 g of butternut squash. I added onion salt, pepper and garlic powder, simmered it and had two bowls. It tasted lovely. I portioned the rest into six bowls and froze them.
The rest of the day was spent watching films and sleeping on the sofa.
Thursday, 28th December
I felt a little better today. I had coffee and worked on my website. Knowing the cold weather would continue, I ordered a woolly hat and more omega‑3 tablets from Amazon.
I made sure to “feed a cold”, so for breakfast I had bacon, egg, mushrooms and beans. For lunch, a cheese, bacon and mushroom burger. For dinner, another bowl of stew. The rest of the day was spent watching films.
Friday, 29th December
I woke around 07:30, had coffee and worked on indexing pages for my website. At 09:30, I went to Tecnyshop to collect my woolly hat and the dishwasher basket. The lady recognised me and handed them over immediately. I put the hat on straight away because it was freezing.
I dropped the parcel at home, took recycling out, and planned to go to Mercadona, but realised I had forgotten my wallet. I went back home, climbed under the blanket and stayed in for the rest of the day.
Saturday, 30th December
I woke around 07:30, had a bacon sandwich and coffee, then added details to my website about my day in Salvador. At 10:45, I went to Mercadona for shopping and returned home.
I grilled some chicken and cheese wraps for lunch. I felt better after going out and wondered if I could go out for a drink. Pat rang and asked if I wanted to go for a Chinese tonight, so I agreed.
I showered and got ready. Pat picked me up at 19:15, and we went to Jardin III. The service was terrible. Dishes arrived separately, rice went cold, Pat’s beef dish never arrived, and the chef was shouting loudly in the kitchen. My garlic shrimp tasted like they had been battered and then had the batter removed. Not their best night.
We eventually paid and Pat dropped me home. I intended to watch MOTD but fell asleep on the sofa and then went to bed.
Sunday, 31st December
I woke around 05:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I got up, had coffee and worked on my website. My blocked nose was worse, even though the cough had almost gone.
I had a bacon sandwich at 10:00, napped on the sofa, then continued working on my website. I finished the page about Ilhéus and Tijuipe and indexed more pages on Google.
In the afternoon, I watched Fulham vs Arsenal. Arsenal scored early to go 0–1 up, but were dreadful afterwards. Fulham deservedly won 2–1. Two games ago Arsenal were top of the league, now they are fourth. They badly need a striker if they want to compete.
I had planned to go out tonight, maybe to Harry’s, The Celt or Rocco’s, but with my blocked nose and the cold weather, I stayed home. I watched repeats on TV and went to bed around 23:00.
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